Along Australia's Gold Coast and across the French Riviera,
they sit above the beach offering extraordinary views of the sea. In
the U.K. they are palaces that humble the Queen's Belgravia mansions.

Others range from landed estates throughout continental Europe to nature
preserves in Zambia.

These are some of the world's most expensive properties, and the prices
are as unique as the homes. Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan's Aspen ski
lodge lists for $135 million, while 6,000 miles away, a 64-room Istanbul
waterfront mansion asks $100 million.

"You're definitely talking about the highest end of the market
here," says Joshua Saslove of Joshua & Co., an Aspen, Colo.-based
affiliate of Christie's Great Estates. "The net worth of the buyers
and the sellers is such that they can do whatever they want."

Feeling a little less flush? A modest $18 million will get you South
Africa's priciest pad. But you'd better act quick; with international
real estate company Knight Frank calling the country one of the quickest
growing real estate markets, that affordability could soon change.

Buyers' Bios

Whether they're plunking down $20 million or close to $200 million,
in Hong Kong, New York or Rio de Janeiro, potential buyers are generally
cut from the same cloth.

They are wealthy globetrotters looking for a second, third or fourth
home, and don't mind gassing up the jet if it means owning a beautiful
property. Americans, Arabs and Europeans have long bought getaways across
the globe, but increasingly the rising wealth in China, India and Russia
is raising the world's luxury watermark.

And while no one besides Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has ever
shelled out more than $100 million for a home (he did so in 2005, when
he snapped up a Kensington townhouse for $127 million ), there are plenty
available.

Dream Homes

Though it hasn't yet been built, Tim Blixseth is asking $155 million
for his planned Montana lodge. He says that several members of the Forbes
400 have already expressed interest in what will be a 53,000-square-foot
stone-and-wood mansion in the billionaire's members-only Yellowstone
Club.

But until Blixseth finishes construction in 2008, this year's top property
sits across the Atlantic in Surrey, England. For $138 million a buyer
gets a palatial 103-room, 58-acre estate, which rivals regal Buckingham
Palace and Hampton Court Palace in size and luxury.

Dishing The Data

For the third consecutive year, Forbes.com compiled lists of the world's
most valuable properties on the market in every continent, excluding
Antarctica. We scoured international real estate listings and spoke
to top brokers around the world, restricting our list to homes and apartments,
not including apartment buildings or plots of land. We allowed for some
commercial properties such as ranches or vineyards, but only if the
property also featured a residence worthy of the list.

Still, discovering every top-tier property is impossible. Many owners
sell their homes only to preselected buyers, and hide their asking and
sales prices. This can help owners conceal the value of a home for tax
purposes, and keeps fellow aristocrats from regarding them as gauche
for announcing a $100 million property to the world.

In France, for example, this year's highest listing is $65 million
for an elegant Cote d'Azur gem perched above the port of Saint Jean,
with views of Beaulieu and Monaco.

But realtors say there are many more available on the sly.

"We have chateaux priced at more than 50 million Euros ($65 million),"
says Thierry Journiac of Terra Cognita who said owners of the country's
priciest properties very rarely make public listings. "But, in
general, the most expensive estates in France are private mansions inside
Paris called 'hotels particuliers' with prices which can be above 100
million Euros ($130 million)."